Niger gov’t approves N87m IFAD counterpart fund

Niger State Government has approved N87 million counterpart fund to execute projects under the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD.
Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Aliyu Abdullahi, disclosed this in Minna during a courtesy visit to the ministry by the IFAD/Federal Government supervision team on value chain development programme for rice and cassava production.
“Before the coming of this government, payment of counterpart fund for this programme was not encouraging. What we are waiting for is cash backing to ensure that the money is released toward the success of the programme in the state. As soon as we get revenue accruing to government we will release it.’’
Abdullahi said before the current administration came on board, past governments did not pay counterpart funds, adding that it was not encouraging.
He noted that the state government was partnering with the federal government and IFAD to improve its agricultural sector.
The commissioner said one of the priorities of government is to resuscitate 18 dilapidated irrigation schemes across the state to improve dry season farming.